


Spore

by MysteryFicAnon



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Body Horror, Dark, Don't copy to another site, Gen, Haven't decided if graphic violence or not, Horror, I haven't decided yet, Mystery, Suspense, implied child injury, possible unhappy ending, warnings will be added as it goes on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-06 01:26:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18840808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysteryFicAnon/pseuds/MysteryFicAnon
Summary: After a rock slide, Papyrus finds himself forced to explore a new cavern in search of a missing child...(Yes, this is underfell)





	Spore

**Author's Note:**

> This one doesn't have it as much, but the following chapters will have a lot of body horror (and potentially some graphic violence). This is a lot darker than what I normally write, so please be cautious of that.

This was far from the first time portions of the cave had collapsed. Once the rumbling died down, the royal guards had to pick their way through the rubble. They mostly just moved around rubble so it was a little more stable, but a few people were always put on dust search. It was technically for missing souls, but everyone knew that the chances of coming out alive were practically zero.

He’d helped Undyne stabilize most of the slide, and now they had to pick up the dogs’ slack and find one last person. It was a shame, but there was one child still missing. The streetlights were beginning to dim, but there was no going home yet.

“Papyrus! Get over here.” Undyne’s shout echoed out, bouncing off the rocky walls.

Out of habit, he glanced up at the few stalactites still dangling from the ceiling. Still stable. He jumped off of the rock he'd been standing on, slipping between piles of stones to find her. She was standing stiffly near a split in the rock wall. Sometimes, sub-caverns would be revealed by rockslides. It wouldn’t be safe to explore it yet, but they would mark it and come back to it later.

Then, he saw what she was pointing at. A piece of a striped shirt was caught near the bottom edge of the cave, right where a child would have crouched down to avoid falling rocks.

As soon as he got closer to the entrance, he could feel it. Malicious intent. It oozed out of the walls. The feeling was similar to being in King Asgore’s presence. If he was a lesser monster, he might have taken a step back. As it was, he took a determined step forwards.

His eyelights brightened as he looked in, scanning the drop off. It was steep, but not sheer. There was a good chance the child could have fallen down, but it was also possible that he’d remained unharmed. Papyrus couldn't see the bottom, but that didn’t really tell them anything.

“We can’t leave the kid, but maybe we should come back tomorrow.” Undyne said, looking around. If it was this hard to see aboveground, then it would be nigh-impossible to find their way around inside a dark crevasse. “Alphys can give us better lights, we can get more rope…”

Papyrus grit his teeth. “He could be dead by morning.” It was going to be a bitterly cold night, with a possible snowstorm. If he and his brother would have barely survived it aboveground, a small reptilian all by himself would never make it.

Undyne tilted her head a little, sizing him up. Whatever she saw, it made her roll her eye and sigh. “All right. Let me call the dogs, then I’ll get my harness.”

Papyrus barked out a short laugh, shaking his head. Did she think he was stupid? It was the 682nd rule for the guard that she’d given him. “The Superior Officer is meant to stay with the guard. The second officer goes out alone.”

“You couldn't just let that go.” Undyne shook her head, annoyance clear in her voice. Before Papyrus could reply she pulled off one glove and brought her fingers to her mouth. Her high-pitched whistle pierced the air, and soon enough the dogs’ howls had joined in.

Within a minute and thirty seconds of the call, there were three dogs gathered around them. Undyne could have supported him on her own, but that wasn't protocol. There had to be at least two others: one to make sure the rope stayed untangled and one as a back up in case the others had trouble.

Her harness was a little loose in his thighs, but he pulled it tight around his hips. Undyne came up to thread the rope through his carabiner, her movements firm. He would probably be paying for her annoyance for the next few days, but he didn’t care. He was going to do his job, and that was the end of it.

“You have thirty minutes. If you can’t find the kid, I’m pulling you up. Give me a tug every few minutes, or I’ll drag you up anyways.”

“Hey.” Undyne put a firm hand on Papyrus’ shoulder, her voice firm. “Come back, or your brother will kill me.”

What a sweet sentiment. Papyrus chuckled, patting her hand. “You’ll have to try harder than that to get rid of me.”

He checked the flashlight, successfully projecting a small but powerful circle of light on to the wall. He turned it down, checking out the cave entrance. There were no real obstacles below, just slick black rock. His eyelights would be fine for now. He clipped the flashlight to his belt and moved into position.

Undyne was standing as close to the entrance as she could be without crowding him, holding the rope with both hands. He took one last look below him, then kicked off. The rope whistled slightly as he began to rappel down, down, down into the suffocating darkness.

 


End file.
